Bar Mitzvah Magazine 2014

Don’t repeat the same mistake. Try a new approach.
Comment on the lessons
you learn from the stories at
By: Rena Chaiklen
Hillel Yeshiva
You have an assignment in one of your
classes to write a story. You have a really
great idea and work very hard to write it.
When you get to school the day that it’s
due, you are very confident and happy
with your story. You go around showing
it to everyone and telling them to read it.
When you hand it in, you tell the teacher,
“I think I did well.” When you get it back,
you get a very bad grade. Everyone is very
happy with their grades and is asking you
what you got. You tell them, sadly, that
you did badly and you’re very embarrassed.
The next time you get assigned
to write a story, at first you’re upset because
last time you did badly. When you
get home, instead of just writing anything
because you think you’re a bad writer, you
put your all into the story. You do things
differently than you did before and you
come up with a better story. This time you
get the highest grade.
TorahContest.com
Failure is the
opportunity to
begin again, only
more intelligently.
By: Rachelli Hoffman
Masores Bais Yaakov
A girl named Chana always wanted to try
to dive. One day, she went to the pool. She
ran to the front of the pool. She held her
hands out towards the water and jumped
off the edge of the pool. She felt her body
fly through the air as she touched the surface
of the water and smack. She landed
in a belly flop. She was very embarrassed.
She went home devastated. The next day
she went back to the pool to try again. She
went to the edge and wondered; maybe,
if she held her hands up a different way,
she might do it the right way. This time,
she held her hands above her head and
jumped. This time, instead of touching
the surface of the water, she did a neat
plunge through the water. All her friends
clapped for her as she exited the water.
By: Daniel Braha
Hillel Yeshiva
One day, I was with my friends. They
all had penny boards. I said to myself,
“That looks cool.” So, I asked my dad if
I can have one and he said, “Yes.” I was
so excited. All of my friends were outside
my house with their skateboards. I
rushed out the door to show my skateboard
to them. We went riding. We
started to ride and right away I fell off.
From then on I knew, I wasn’t that good
because they were laughing at me. I
thought about that and said to myself
that if I tried I would be a great rider.
So, I was practicing but I couldn’t seem
to get the hang of it. One time, I tried to
put my feet in a different direction and,
the first thing I knew, I was riding. The
next day, I was riding with my friends.
I was doing great. After a few months
went by, I was the best rider.
By: Raymond Arking
Barkai Yeshivah
People always try to do amazing things
but, sometimes, it just backfires. I think
people should start out small and then try
bigger. For example, I tried to get a touchdown
in football. But, the ball bounced
off my hands and someone on the other
team caught it. (It was an interception).
So, I tried to start small. I got a touchdown
by running with the ball (getting a handoff).
I felt good that I helped my team instead
of doing a back flip and missing a
throw, which I could have easily caught. I
know that many people have done similar
mistakes. So, remember to start small and
you’ll end up doing big things one day.
Great prizes for the authors
Authors who get the most comments will get a prize. SEE P. 89
86 Bar/Bat Mitzvah Magazine 718-909-6060 View magazine online at BMmagazine.com